FicWad

Chapter Thirty Seven: Potter Versus Potter

After a rather eventful break, Harry was ready to return to Hogwarts to complete his sixth year. Unfortunately for Harry, the day before he was due back, he found himself face to face with yet another assassin.

In Harry’s opinion, this was getting rather tiresome but he had to fight, honor dictated it.

Harry expertly blocked a sword with his weapon. Another attempted jab but Harry dodged and blocked, before his assassin, a lanky man with a goatee and Mohawk, continued on the attack. He attempted to stab Harry in the chest, but Harry dodged and the attackers sword was stuck in the wall. Instead of removing his weapon, the attacker just withdrew a staff and spun it before he whacked Harry with it, causing the Boy-Who-Lived to stagger backwards.

“Just who are you anyway?” demanded Harry dodging before he was smacked with the staff once again.

“Child, I’m the master of all weapons,” remarked the assassin as he swung his staff at Harry once again. “Swords, nunchucks, staffs, shuriken, and even my bare hands.”

Harry snapped the staff viciously, but the attacker just clicked sides of each piece of staff and a sickle withdrew from each piece. The attacker moved forward gracefully but Harry blocked it. Another block but a third swung found its mark and Harry’s weapon flew to the side. He did not dare take his eyes off of his opponent, rather he caught his opponent with a kick to the face. Another kick as blocked by his opponent’s bare hand and the mercenary twisted Harry’s foot but Harry managed to crack the mercenary in the face with his free foot to cause his attacker to stagger backwards.

The mercenary only staggered back a few inches but he whipped a Kusari-Gama chain out his sleeve and in a blink of an eye, the chain wrapped around Harry. With a yank, the mercenary attempted to stab Harry with the sickle end but Harry managed to arch his back, just barely avoiding being injured and then with a burst of wandless magic, sliced the chain.

The assassin was not going to give up, he flung several shuriken at Harry who managed to duck and dodge then, causing them to stick in the wall behind him but the attacker leapt behind him and caught Harry right in the face with a vicious uppercut punch. Harry dropped to one knee, this guy sure knew how to swing a punch. Another punch Harry saw coming before it connected with his face and he managed to block it, before he twisted the wrist. The mercenary recoiled with a pained grunt and Harry flipped him over by the arm. With a leap, Harry leapt up but the mercenary avoided contact before he threw a dagger at Harry. The dagger hit his arm and caused Harry momentarily pain, before the mercenary pulled out another sword but Harry quickly summoned his weapon and blocked the attack. The mercenary steadied himself and continued the attack, but Harry was done playing games, he grabbed the mercenary and threw him halfway across the tunnel. His opponent just barely avoided cracking his skull on a sewage pipe and leapt in front of his opponent.

“Enough, who are you working for?” demanded Harry but the mercenary shoved Harry backwards before throwing a handful of powder on the ground which exploded, blocking Harry’s vision allowing the mercenary to get back on the attack with a vicious blow that sent Harry flying backwards to the ground.

“I expected a challenge,” taunted the mercenary as he withdrew large sword from behind him and aimed it at Harry’s head but he found himself stopped right before he was allowed to drill Harry.

“No,” hissed the voice in the assassin’s ear. “You have proven yourself as worthy and the fifteen minutes are up.”

Harry tossed a shuriken at his distracted attacker but the attacker disappeared. The shuriken splashed onto the water below as Harry had no sign that the attacker was even there, except for the bumps and bruises on his body.

The assassin landed with a thud in the one of the many chambers of Salazar Tower. The fortress was cloaked from the rest of the world, just outside of Hogsmeade peak, unless Lord Voldemort had a reason for it to be seen. The only way one could see the tower was to have the dark mark.

Voldemort watched as the assassin looked up at him with contempt in his eyes and angrily flung shuriken at Voldemort. With a lazy flick of his wand, the Dark Lord dissolved the weapons before they even came close to reaching them.

“You have done sufficient,” hissed Voldemort. “It would serve you well not to try and attack me in the future, you are being paid for these services, after all.”

“I don’t get it,” said the assassin. “You said me after that brat for fifteen minutes then you use your hocus pocus to pull me back. I could have easily finished him off given a few more minutes.”

“Do not flatter yourself assassin,” replied Voldemort calmly. “If I had not pulled you back here, Harry Potter would have destroyed you and you would have been nothing but a bloody smear upon a sewer wall.”

“Look, I’ve trained in every weapon imaginable for over thirty years, no sixteen year old kid can kill me,” argued the assassin.

“He is more than a mere child,” countered Voldemort. “His destruction will come when the time is right but right now your presence is more bothersome than it is productive.”

Voldemort shot a silvery snake from his wand and seconds later, two surly Death Eaters entered the room, before they placed their wands on the assassin.

“Place him with the others, until I can proceed with phase three,” ordered Voldemort softly.

“Wait, what about my payment?” asked the assassin.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get everything that you deserve,” replied Voldemort coldly as the Death Eaters dragged off the assassin to place him with the others than had attacked Harry Potter over recent months.

“My Lord, if I can be so bold if to inquire about your plan,” interjected Dolohov.

“Wormtail, I am expecting a package shortly, go downstairs and meet those,” replied Voldemort and Wormtail scurried off, hiding the look of contempt he held for the half blood. He dreamed of a day where he would be the Dark Lord, it was all a matter of timing.

When he was certain that Wormtail had departed, Voldemort turned to Dolohov and nodded his head slightly.

“Sending all these Muggle assassins after Harry Potter, it does seem frivolous, surely your time would be better sent in securing the Ministry of Magic,” remarked Dolohov in a slightly uneasy voice.

“To anything but a well developed mind, all these assassin attacks does seem to be rather frivolous but it is part of a more intricate plan than you could ever fathom, Dolohov,” explained Voldemort. “I have learned much about Harry Potter over the past several years. We are equal matches on many areas, as much as it pains me to admit it but he is blinded by foolish perceptions like love and the desire to protect those close to him. He is skilled in but one area that I sadly am not. Potter knows this and would exploit even the smallest weakness. He was sorted into Slytherin for a reason, after all.”

Dolohov could have sworn that he heard a twinge of pride in his master’s voice, small yes, nearly nonexistent but it was there, but Dolohov didn’t have the courage to ask his master about the matter.

“Thanks to the scrolls, this weakness will soon be nonexistent,” added Voldemort. “Phase two is just about completed, just one final assassin and then phase three, before I move onto the final phase of this plan, which will spell the end of Harry Potter and put Wizarding Britain under my rule.”

“I look forward to watching this plan unfold then, my lord,” answered Dolohov with a bow, even though deep down he wished he had more details of the Dark Lord’s rather vague plan.

Just then, a knock echoed from outside the Dark Lord’s chambers.

“Master, they’re here,” informed Wormtail from outside.

“Well enter and send them in Wormtail,” answered Voldemort calmly and sure enough, a group of four Death Eaters, carrying a rather large crate entered the chambers and lugged it towards Voldemort.

“My lord, we found one of their strong holds, it was deep within the Amazon, it doesn’t appear that anyone has been there in thousands of years,” replied one of the Death Eaters as they set the crate down and Voldemort walked towards it and opened the crate, allowing a bright green glow to escape, before he looked down.

“Impressive,” muttered Voldemort as he looked over the large boulder size chunks of Y’liantian power crystals. One of them looked to be powerful enough to transfer every once of magic out of his Death Eaters and into him, leaving them nothing but useless shells but that was not what Voldemort had in mind for these crystals.

“What exactly of these, my lord?” asked Dolohov.

“Power,” replied Voldemort simply as he gazed upon the crystals, an intoxicating source of power to be sure, as when combined with the scrolls that he pilfered from Hogwarts last year, Voldemort had many roads to power that he could take.

“We need to make a couple of trips back my lord to get the rest,” added one of the Death Eaters and Voldemort’s eyes snapped up in mild surprise. It was already a great amount, the last thing he suspected was larger quantity in addition to what had already been brought before him.

“We’ve struck an untapped gold mine of magic my followers,” remarked Voldemort calmly. “Soon, we will all take advantage of the power and all that oppose us will bow before us.”

The day of the Quidditch final was upon Hogwarts and of course, the entire school was abuzz with anticipation and excitement as usual. The finals were Hufflepuff versus Slytherin, which normally would have been considered to be an easy victory for Slytherin on their way to the cup but the Hufflepuff Quidditch team had been training hard. The main attraction was naturally the battle between the two Potter siblings, who had captained each team. Many debated which would be the better Seeker. There were those who thought that Harry Potter was perhaps the greatest seeker to ever play Quidditch at Hogwarts, with his death defying stunts and just flawless ability at flying. However, some did acknowledge that Hailey was pretty talented in her own right, if a bit inexperienced. If the circumstances were right, Hailey could maybe beat her brother towards the Snitch and score the third Hufflepuff upset of the season. Others scoffed at this notion, but all did agree that this game would be one for the ages.

At that moment, Harry was trying to eat breakfast along with the rest of the Slytherin Quidditch team as they went over some last minute strategies quietly, with Harry not really paying any attention. He had put Ginny onto fine tuning the details of the game, synchronizing the strategy with the rest of the Chasers, they had went over some things the night before, but Harry decided to focus completely on getting the Snitch. The problem was Harry had some unique new strategies to try but they all resulted in the other seeker suffering some sort of injury. He was very reluctant to intentionally cause his sister to be injured, even though Harry knew that Hailey was nearly as skilled as he was in the air and was more likely to get injured by some dangerous move that she tried rather than anything Harry did or did not do. It was all Harry could do to relax and just try to treat Hailey like any other opposing Seeker than his sister. Still, he vowed not to try the really dangerous stunts unless absolutely necessary.

“Harry, I just wanted to come and wish you luck before the Quidditch game,” remarked Lily as she walked up to the Slytherin table.

“Oh, thanks Mum,” replied Harry with a nod.

“I’m going to tell you the same thing I told Hailey, go out there, have fun, don’t take anything personally, and for Merlin sake, don’t get hurt,” added Lily.

“How is Hailey?” asked Harry.

“She seems a bit nervous, you do have quite the reputation as a skilled Seeker,” responded Lily. “I’ve overhead some say that you might be one of the best, if not the best in Hogwarts history.”

“Now, Mum, I think that might be overstating my abilities just a little bit,” replied Harry who was a bit embarrassed. “I’m fairly competent…”

“Fairly competent?” demanded Daphne who was sitting a bit away from the Slytherin Quidditch team. “I don’t know of many Seekers who could catch the Snitch when someone had been jinxing your broomstick.”

“Or with a broken arm,” added Theodore.

“Or despite being effected by fifty Dementors,” chimed in Hermione, who had just joined them. It had taken several days to get used to the fact that they had accepted her after what she had said but Harry and Ginny sat her down the first day after break, and told Hermione that Riddle had made her do those things, they didn’t blame her at all.

“Face it Harry, you’re pretty damn good,” replied Ginny before adding with a wink. “You’re not just another pretty face, otherwise, do you think I’d date you?”

“Okay fine, I’m decent,” said Harry waving off his hand before he turned to Ginny. “Plus, you’re just as good as me in the air, pretty damn brilliant if I’m as good as they say I am.”

Ginny just responded by kissing Harry madly. After a couple of moments, they realized that they were surrounded by the other members of the Slytherin Quidditch team and not in a private area of the castle, so they broke up.

“We’ll finish this later,” muttered Ginny and Harry nodded with a grin before he turned, adjusting his face into a serious expression and addressed the rest of the team.

“Okay, I best get going, Dumbledore wants the teachers out to police the stands early,” remarked Lily as she walked from the Great Hall towards the field.
“I have the easiest job on the team, it’s the rest of you that keep the team together, I couldn’t have won those two games without all of you,” added Harry. “I’ll save the grand standing speech for when we’ll all dressed but since we’re all done, we better start heading out.”

The Slytherin Quidditch team nodded, before they headed out, with Daphne, Theodore, and Hermione following so they could get decent seats to watch the game. Before they made their way outside, Snape was waiting for them.

“Mr. Potter, I do hope that you’re going to treat this game like any other, as I have grown rather accustomed of having the Quidditch Cup in my office,” remarked Snape. “I would hate to lose that particular fixture after all that time.”

“Don’t worry Professor Snape, we’re ready to win,” responded Harry and the other team members nodded in unison.

“Then good luck to you all,” said Snape calmly as he stepped to the side, allowing the Slytherin Quidditch Team to make their way out to the dressing room to change and prepare for the game.

The stadium was packed for the Quidditch team final, with a lot of noise. Harry poked his head outside to have a look around.

“The weather is clear, not a cloud in the sky and the temperature feels just right,” informed Harry. “The perfect day for a Quidditch match in other words.”

The team nodded, some of them not trusting themselves to speak.

“Also the entire school seems to be watching this match and…” remarked Harry before he trailed off. “Don’t want to put any pressure on you all or anything, but I saw a few professional Quidditch talent scouts out there.”

“Oh, that just takes all the pressure off, thanks Harry,” replied Isabelle in a slightly sarcastic tone.

“Doubt they’d be looking at all of us,” remarked Victoria.

“Yeah, they’d be looking at Harry and maybe Ginny,” added Jack.

“I get Harry, but why me?” asked Ginny.

“Ginny, you’re just as good as me and you know it,” replied Harry. “I just hope they aren’t expecting me to sign on just yet, because there are a few other details that I need to take care of.”

“Yeah, there’s that tiny little matter of Voldemort that you have to take care of first,” added Ginny, causing the other members of the Slytherin Quidditch team to laugh. “Still you can’t deny that they’ll looking to the future.”

Harry nodded before he cleared his throat.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, I’ll be blunt, this may very well be the last time I’ll get a chance to compete on a Quidditch team at Hogwarts,” explained Harry as the others nodded. “I won’t go out on anything less than a personal best performance, so today the future doesn’t matter, Voldemort doesn’t matter, nothing else matters but the game ahead of us. So one more time, maybe, just maybe, one final time as a team, we’ll go out there and show everyone what the Slytherin Quidditch Team is made of.”

The team cheered, the adrenaline was flowing, they were ready against Hufflepuff, ready to show their worth towards their captain, the player who was the driving force, the heart and soul of their team, Harry Potter. As Harry had constantly reminded them during practice, they should not expect an easy victory, it would be one that would be done by a lot of hard work, determination, and most importantly team work.

The Hufflepuff team made their way out, lead by Hailey, with equally determined looks on their faces. Some members of the crowd got to their feet, excited at the intensity of both of the teams.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the Quidditch team final,” replied the motone voice of the Quidditch announce. “These two teams will fight for the Quidditch Cup. First we have the Slytherin Quidditch team. They have Chasers Ginny Weasley, Isabelle Martinez, and Victoria Knox, along with Keeper Blaise Zabini, beaters Jack Maff and Rob Turner, and finally the seeker…captain Harry…Potter. They play against Hufflepuff. Chasers, uh, Elizabeth Martin, Brent Vine, and Carl Jacobs, their keeper, Gregory Vance, beaters Ray Edwards and Keith Lanton, and lead by the captain, their seeker, who is Harry Potter’s baby sister.”

Harry looked up, he did not really pay all too much to the Quidditch commentary on the games he didn’t play but Hailey’s complaint were not that far off base. The monotonously commentary did seem to be a bit off putting and rather distracting. Harry caught his sister’s eye before he aimed his wand upwards. Hailey nodded, the same idea.

“Madam Hooch walks down to the field,” stated the connecting but two jets of red light shot upwards, connecting with the magical microphone and causing it to explode into several pieces, causing a loud feedback loop to echo through the Quidditch stadium.

“I can’t believe those two did that!” yelled Hermione from the stands as she clasped her hands over her ears to block out the shrill sounds.

“Just as well, because I was about to do something, that guy shows no passion for this sport,” remarked Daphne as Theodore nodded.

“Still, I didn’t expect Harry to actually do it, Hailey yes, but Harry was a bit of a surprise,” added Theodore. “Still should give us a chance to watch the game without nitpicking the commentary.”

“True, true,” remarked Daphne and Hermione, who didn’t really care all that much for Quidditch, also nodded in agreement, before she turned her attention towards the game.

“Captains shake hands!” ordered Madam Hooch and Hailey and Harry stared each other down, with Harry extending his hand for his sister to shake it but Hailey just drew back and responded with a bow. Harry smirked and responded by bowing back before they shook hands to the cheers of the crowd.

Four balls and fifteen broomsticks shot up into the air, officially beginning the game. Needless to say, Hufflepuff didn’t waste too much time as Elizabeth swooped in right away, grabbing the Quaffle and spun around, before she spiraled it towards the air, right in an attempt to score a quick goal and sure enough, it managed to get through, scoring the first goal within ten seconds for Hufflepuff.

Ginny turned to her fellow Chasers, , they weren’t going to take this early setback lightly. When the Quaffle was bounced back into play, the Bludgers were blasted in front of the Hufflepuff Chasers. This allowed for a diversion in which Isabelle swooped in and gained possession of the Quaffle. Ginny dodged in, taking the Quaffle before the Hufflepuffs could hammer the Bludgers towards them. Diving underneath an attempt for the Hufflepuff Team to attempt to snatch the Quaffle way, Ginny spun around before she gracefully passed it over her shoulder and it went though the goal posts, bumping the score up to a tie with ten points a piece.

Harry hovered a bit of above the field, only routinely checking up on the action when he had the chance. Below, he saw Slytherin push ahead with two more goals, bumping the score up to thirty to ten but the Hufflepuff team would not be denied for much longer, as they gained control of the Quaffle just as Harry had spotted the Snitch out of the corner of his eye.

Adjusting himself, Harry had shot forward like a cork out of an unstable bottle but as he looked over his shoulder, Hailey gained on him, with equal speed. He had only seen the Snitch a split second before she did and she was determined to catch up. One of the Hufflepuff Beaters hammered a Bludger right towards Harry to slow him down but he swerved around it causing the Bludger to fly off towards the other side. Unfortunately for Huffepuff, Brent Vine was disarmed by the errant Bludger and Victoria took advantage, grabbing the Quaffle, dodging another Bludger and passed it off to Isabelle who managed to push the Quaffle though for a forty to ten lead.

Meanwhile, in the excitement, the Snitch had vanished, bringing Harry back to square one and he hovered over the game, trying to reestablish his aim for the Snitch.

On the other side, Hailey was frustrated, what seemed like a good idea at the time had only put Slytherin ahead by another ten points.

“Step it up!” shouted Hailey to the Chasers. “Remember what we practiced yesterday!”

Another attempt of a goal by Slytherin was thawarted and Elizabeth grabbed the Quaffle, passing it to Carl who attempted to pass it towards Brent but Ginny managed to swoop in and grab control before she rocketed it over the heads of all three Hufflepuff Chasers. The Keeper dove a little bit too far and the Quaffle slipped though, and Slytherin had gained the fifty to ten score.

Hailey saw the Snitch and she blasted upwards, but Harry had also seen the Snitch. Bobbing in and out, Harry avoided the players and reached forward, the Snitch was only a few feet away.

Hailey screwed her eyes in concentration as she attempted to swerve in front of her brother to snatch the Snitch from underneath his nose but Harry shifted his weight slightly enough, preventing her from getting in front of him. Harry knew exactly what he was doing and he very nearly reached the Snitch but the Hufflepuff Beaters were on either side, the Bludgers came across Harry but it was a simple, yet effective move that Harry had anticipated.

Harry shifted his weight up and blasted the Firebolt up, causing the Hufflepuff Beaters to just barely avoid wiping each other out with their own Bludgers. With the Snitch now vanished, Harry continued his search for the Snitch, reasoning it could not have gotten all that far.

Hufflepuff managed to stage a remarkable comeback within the next several moments. Carl managed to just barely avoid a Bludger from the Slytherin team before he put the Quaffle through. The score bumped up fifty to twenty, still in favor of Slytherin but two more goals after some extensive back and forth action lead to a fifty to forty score, as Hufflepuff was pulling back as the crowd was getting excited with each passing move and counter move.

Harry kept half of an eye on the back and forth action, as he surveyed the sky for the Snitch, which was remaining rather elusive in this stage of the game. After several minutes of intense searching, in which Hufflepuff managed to tie up the game for a brief moment but a goal from Ginny had pushed Slytherin back to their narrow sixty to fifty lead, Harry saw the Snitch fluttering down by the grass.

In a flash, Harry rocketed towards the ground, on the opposite direction towards where the Snitch was in an attempt to divert his sister’s attention. When he was halfway down, Harry changed courses slightly and shot in a straight line but to her credit, Hailey kept up, until they were both neck and neck towards the Snitch. Both Potter children reached forward at the same time, whomever had the better reach looked to have been the one to grab the Snitch first.

Harry had his finger tips on the Snitch but saw something souring from behind him and it was an attempt a Bludger. He didn’t know who had hit it but Harry did know to move, and Hailey swerved out of the way, but the Bludger managed to cut her off from the Snitch which made its way back up. In a desperate move, Harry attempted to snatch the Snitch on its way up but the Slytherin Seeker was not quick enough. The Snitch vanished from sight and fluttered off in the distance away from the game.

Game play got even more intense, as Ginny, Isabelle, and Victoria seemed to be switching to a slightly new strategy which paid off well as it netted Slytherin three more goals and thus thirty more points, with the score at ninety to sixty. Harry smirked, his team really got intense even when the slightest ground but the Hufflepuff Team proved to be a great challenge when the Slytherin stepped up their game. Another goal was scored, after a bit of intense back and forth action, along with several near misses, as the Quaffle was passed around like a hot potato, with no sign of the intense back and forth action being let up.

Harry arched his neck, the Snitch had decided to play hard to get and the game was nearing the hour point. Hufflepuff further closed the gap with a goal that bumped the score up to a ninety to ninety tie. An attempt to swing the pendulum the other way pushed things too far, as Blaise blocked the attempt of the Quaffle to get shot passed him before it was tossed back into the game. The Quaffle bounced back and forth for the next fifteen minutes, with several near misses, but no goals as the tie remained ninety to ninety. The Keepers on each time were bound and determined to not allow their team to lose any ground, so it appeared that if things continued at this rate, it would be down to which Seeker caught the Snitch first.

Harry looked, the intense back and forth action had masked his attempts to locate the Snitch. It didn’t appear that Hailey was having much more luck than he was, it was more of a waiting game, both Seekers remained vigilante, sooner or later the Snitch would need to show up but until then they blocked all thought of the back and forth action around them which still yielded no goals either way.

Then there it was, in flickering off several feet to the right, the Golden Snitch. Harry turned his broomstick, adrenaline kicking in as he shot downwards, spiraling around towards the Snitch. On the other side, Hailey had also seen the direction her brother was headed and put on a lot of speed. Hailey managed to somehow used the slight wind that was kicking up to her favor and accelerated, until she was shoulder to shoulder with Harry, as both siblings raced towards the Snitch, as the crowd seemed rose to their feet in anticipation.

“LET’S GO POTTER!” shouted a spectator.

Everyone did have their eyes glued towards the race to the Snitch, everyone except for the players who played slightly above, as Ginny managed to dive forward and take possession of the Quaffle. After the last several failed goal attempts, she was bound and determined to get at least more goal. Ginny dodged underneath an attempted shot for the Bludger before she quickly faked to the right and shot to the left.

The Quaffle made its way though the hoop just as Hailey and Harry reached forward simultaneously and those who just blinked saw that both Potters had their hands on the Snitch, with Madam Hooch blowing the whistle to signify the end of the game.

“What just happened?” asked Elizabeth who had just swooped down with the other Hufflepuff team members to look at Hailey, as the Snitch was let go, being examined by Madam Hooch.

“I don’t know,” replied Hailey who was utterly confused, she didn’t know whether Harry had beat her to the Snitch or not. It had been pretty damn close, that’s for sure.

Meanwhile, the Slytherin Team was done in a huddle on the field.

“So, who won?” asked Isabelle in a hushed voice.

“Hailey was closer to the Snitch but I have a bit longer reach,” replied Harry.

“So too close to call in other words,” said Jack. “We were too busy playing, we didn’t see what happened.”

“Good, I didn’t want you to stop to watch my attempts to grab the Snitch anyway,” responded Harry.

“Ginny did manage to get off a good goal at the last minute,” added Victoria. “Really brilliant, we thought we hit a wall in scoring, but she just managed to outsmart the Keeper.”

“Yes, I just put it though just a second before Hooch blew the whistle,” remarked Ginny. “It was nothing really…”

“I’m sure it was great,” said Harry. “Shame I didn’t get to see it.”

“Harry, I don’t want you watching me when you’re supposed to getting the Snitch,” remarked Ginny. “There will be plenty of time for that later.”

Harry laughed before his attention had diverted elsewhere, it appeared that Madam Hooch had made a decision.

“Before the Golden Snitch was caught, the score of this Quidditch Game was one hundred to ninety, in favor of Slytherin,” announced Hooch. “After extensive review, it appears that the Golden Snitch was caught simultaneously by both the Hufflepuff and Slytherin Seekers, therefore by virtue of that, each team will receive one hundred and fifty points. As a result of being ten points in the lead before the Snitch was caught, the 1996-1997 house Quidditch champions are Slytherin!”

The Slytherin supporters cheered before they made their way onto the field and even the Hufflepuff supporters clapped respectively, including the Hufflepuff team themselves.

“You know I’ll take a ten point loss, because Harry, I came closer to beating you to the Snitch when you were conscious then anyone else had before,” remarked Hailey with a grin. “Besides, there’s always next year.”

“You did great Hailey,” said Harry. “I’m proud of you, but don’t let the praise go to your head.”

“If she’s like her father, she might,” remarked Lily who had just made her way out on the field. “That was really good both of you.”

Daphne, Theodore, and Hermione made their way down to the field to celebrate with the rest of the team. Harry felt that life was good and nothing could ruin it, not even Voldemort.